Winchester Trio Snippets
by alice.in.ink
Summary: A collection of various one-shots from the childhoods of Dean, Sam, and Kate Winchester. (From the universe of "Everybody Changes" and "Atonement.") (Winchester sisfic) (Includes crappy father John Winchester)
1. Shake Sneak

_**Chapter 1: Shake Sneak**_

 _ **Dean: 16**_  
 _ **Sam & Kate: 12**_

Dina's Diner had all the same red booths and stool-lined counters that any diner did. But Dina's Diner boasted about having the best shakes in the world. The. Whole. World.

"I don't know, Sammy," Dean said, tired of this conversation. Next to me, he held up his menu to try to redirect Sam's attention to ordering food. (I didn't need to be redirected. I knew what food I was getting.)

Across the booth, Sam frowned. "It's supposed to be one of the best-made summer camps in the nation, Dean! If I go, I'll get to learn and experience real science firsthand! It's—"

"Sam, I don't know why you're hounding me on this," Dean said as he dropped his menu down. "I'm not the one that'll have to fork over the four hundred. Pitch your speech to Dad."

"But Dad will—"

"Hiya, hons!" Her nametag read Betsy, and she was a middle-aged, redhead waitress with a sincere smile. She pulled a pen from her hair, a notepad from her apron, and asked jollily, "What can I get ya?"

"I'll get the chocolate shake," I announced, sliding my menu across the table and towards her.

Without looking away from his own menu, Dean slid my menu back to me. "No, she won't." He threw me a look. "You've been running on nothing but m&m's and Crackerjacks for two days. Order something real."

I frowned. My oldest brother could be such a killjoy sometimes. "Dean, they have the best shakes in the whole world." I pointed to the bold statement on the menu that said so.

"And I'm the world's best brother," Dead said dryly. He stabbed my menu with a finger. "Order something real." He looked up to the waitress and asked for a double cheeseburger and fries. "What do you want, Sam?"

"To go to that science camp," Sam grumbled, glaring down at his menu.

The sympathetic waitress turned back to me. "Did you decide on somethin', hon?"

 _Uh…_ I looked down at my menu. "I guess chicken tenders… and a chocolate shake."

Dean handed off our two menus and gave the waitress a grin. "Forget the shake. Just the burger, fries, and tenders will do." He turned back to Sam and ignored my pointed scowl. "What are you getting, Sam?"

Sam's angry eyes snapped up to Dean. "Why can't you just _ask_ Dad about the camp?"

"I never said I wouldn't," Dean defended, growing his own glower. "And why can't you just go read in the library over the summer like the rest of the nerds, huh?"

Sam glared, dropped his menu, and jumped out of the booth. He stomped away as Dean blew out a breath and rolled his eyes.

"Sam!" Dean called out. "Sammy! Come on, don't be like this!" The bell over the door rang, signaling Sam had exited the diner. Dean quickly got up, threw me an order to stay there, and then jogged after my melodramatic twin.

Betsy, bless her heart, was watching my brothers' theatrical departures with a look of concern. "Are those boys gonna be alright?"

I waved off her concern. Ever since we'd turned twelve last month, Sam found something to get upset over daily. "They're fine. Now, I have money." I pulled out a small wad of seven one's. "And it's all yours if you get me that shake." I raised a suggestive eyebrow and scooted the money closer to her.

* * *

By the time my brothers had their heart-to-heart and came back into the diner, I was seven dollars poorer. I sipped on my shake, three-fourths of the way through it, when Dean stalked up to the table with angry, disbelieving eyes. _Worth it._

"What the hell, Katie?" Dean demanded as I continued drinking innocently. "I told you no shakes!" Sam watched me with an impressed look as he sat back down at the booth.

"I used my own money, Dean," I said in lieu of a response to that. I took another drink.

Dean snatched the shake right out of my mouth, holding it up with an incredulous look. "So what? Your sugar-addiction is killing you, Kate!"

I leaned back, pretty content with myself. "That was the world's best chocolate shake, and I know what it tastes like. I can die happy."

Dean shoved the shake onto the table but away from me. "Good," he said as he plopped down beside me, "because I'm going to kill you when we get back to the motel."

Betsy appeared, sheepishly handing out the burger, fries, and chicken tenders. "Sorry, honey. She gave me the saddest look, and I just about melted." (Or she really wanted my seven dollars.) She turned to Sam. "Anything I can get for you, sweetie?"

Sam ordered a chicken burger, and Betsy scurried off to get it for him "in a jiff."

Dean shoved my chicken tenders towards me. "Eat." He took a large bite of his double cheeseburger.

I didn't move towards the chicken. "I'm full." I really was; the world's best shake filled me up.

Dean froze mid-bite before slowly turning to glare at me. He stayed silent, but his eyes promised that I had better started chewing _or else._

Meekly, I picked up a tender and started shredding it. I slowly ate the chicken.

Betsy popped out with Sam's chicken in no time, making me wonder if they just heated up precooked food. Maybe they used their kitchen space to research how to make the best shakes.

As Sam bit into his burger, he told me, "I can't believe you ordered that shake."

Still tearing apart my chicken, I threw him an unimpressed look. "I can't believe you seriously want to go to summer camp."

With a mystified grin, Sam shook his head and continued eating.

"Yeah, Kate's a real rule-breaker," Dean commented dryly as he reached the end of his burger. "And she's gonna get to do extra chores for the next two weeks as a reward." He smirked.

 _Twwwwoooooo weeeeeeeeekkkssss…_ I slumped against the seat and groaned. I stuffed a piece of my chicken into my mouth as I bitterly eyed the shake on the table.

Then again, I'd been lucky enough to taste the world's best shake. Two weeks of chores seemed like a fair trade-off for knowing its glory.


	2. Geese in the Parking Lot

**Thank you all so much for your kind responses! Here's another chapter!**

 ** _Chapter 2: Geese in the Parking Lot_**

 ** _Dean: 12  
Kate: 7_**

We were waiting for Sam and Dad to come back from the store. Dean was left in charge of me, but he didn't seem to mind.

Until I wouldn't shut up about how bored I was.

"I know, Katie," twelve-year-old Dean grumbled. "You haven't stopped bitching about it since Dad left."

I stopped rolling on the bed and looked at my big brother with wide eyes. "You said a bad word!"

Dean groaned and rolled his eyes. "Alright, if I take you outside, can you keep your trap shut about me cussing?"

I nodded eagerly. I would've never ratted him out to Dad anyways; Dean was my hero.

Dean grudgingly grabbed my hand, a comic book, and the motel key before taking me outside to the parking lot. He dropped my hand and plopped down on the curb to read his superhero book.

"Come play with me," I begged in a desperate voice. I tried to tug at his blue jeans.

He swatted me away. "I said I'd take you outside; I didn't say crap about playing House with you."

I let out a frustrated groan and stomped away.

"Stay where I can see you!" he called out, keeping his eyes on his comic book.

I ran to the edge of the parking lot where I noticed a line of bushes. I thought that it would be cool to play Spies and dive through the wall of bushes. But, first, I decided to take a cautionary step into the hedge before I barreled through them.

A loud _honk_ had me scrambling back. A large, white goose stepped out of the bush. It looked at me, honked, and then waddled away to the parking lot.

"Come here, ducky!" I called, chasing after the escaping goose.

"It's a goose!" Dean called from his seat on the curb. "Leave it alone!"

I ignored him and chased it with extended arms. "Come here, little, little, little ducky!" I'd always wanted a pet. And these ducks looked like they would love cuddles.

Another _honk_ from the bushes distracted me. A second goose waddled out of the hedge and followed the first around the parking lot.

"Two duckies!" I squealed in delight. I hurried after them. _I could have_ two _ducks to hug!_

"Stop running around on the blacktop, Katie!" Dean yelled. "The geese don't want you chasin' 'em!"

I ignored Dean again. "Come'ere," I encouraged Goose #1. _They're probably husband and wife ducks,_ I thought. _They would be good pets if I kept them together._

As I reached for him, the other frantic goose ran in front of me. I tripped over its fat body and skidded across the asphalt on my knee. The geese flapped the wings frantically and hurried back to the safety of the hedge. Tears welled in my eyes; I'd hurt myself _and_ scared away my ducks.

"Katie, are you OK?!" Dean booked it towards me, and I started to cry. He knelt down in front of me and looked at my scraped knee. "Is that the only thing that hurts?"

Rather than answer him, I wailed, "It hurts!"

Dean gave me his worried/unamused look. He saved that look for me and (rarely) Sam. "You want me to give you a piggyback ride inside?"

I nodded as I sucked in a stuttered breath. Dean crouched in front of me, and I latched my arms and legs around him. He straightened and held onto my legs, careful of my knee.

As we approached the motel room, I pointed to the hedges in a panic. "Wait! I wanted to bring my ducks inside!"

Dean ignored my plea as he unlocked the door. "For Pete's sake, Katie—they're _geese._ " He pushed the door open. "Besides, you know Dad would kill us if we brought something alive in here." He dropped me on the bed and shut the door. "You're lucky he keeps you and Sam." He grinned.

When I gave him my panicked look, he rolled his eyes. "Relax, we like you too much to ditch you," he said. He turned and grabbed the med kit from a bag. He knelt back in front of me and inspected my knee.

"Do we have the fun Band-Aids?" I asked hopefully.

He shook his head and leaned backwards for the med kit. "You used 'em all." He pulled out a black bottle and a cotton ball. He poured clear liquid from the bottle onto the ball and then looked up at me. "You got crap in your cut, so we have to clean it so it won't get infected and stuff. But it's gonna sting."

I frowned. "I don't want to."

He raised his eyebrows and gave me a knowing look. "You wanna wait for Dad?"

I shook my head, so he bent forwards and started dabbing the cotton ball at my knee.

"Ow!" I frowned again and tried to pull my knee away from his stinging touch.

He held my leg down and gave me a look. "Suck it up. It's gonna be a whole lot worse if we don't clean it, Katie."

I grimaced and whined, "It hurts!"

He wiped the skinned knee down with the alcohol-drenched cotton. "Then you should've listened the first time and stopped chasing those geese."

I looked down at my pink shorts. "They wanted hugs."

Dean rolled his eyes. "You're a doofus." He tossed the cotton ball into the trash and then grabbed a Band-Aid from the med kit.

As he peeled the adhesive open and pressed it to my knee, I looked down at the tan bandage. "Can I draw on it?"

He tossed the trash down and gave me an are-you-stupid look. "It's not a cast; people don't write on Band-Aids."

I gave him a defiant look and jumped off the bed. "Well, _I'm_ going to!" I found a purple marker in the bottom of my duffle bag and sat on the ground. I popped the lid off and started drawing a duck on the small Band-Aid.

Dean grumbled about weirdo siblings and flopped down onto the bed with his comic book.

"You're kinda like a superhero," I told him as I colored the duck purple.

Dean gave me a disbelieving look. "What?"

"You are," I said as I pushed the lid back onto the marker. "You saved me when we were outside. We flew away and everything, just like them." I pointed to his comic book.

He rolled his eyes, but his cheeks grew pinker. "Yeah, whatever, kid. You want me to read to you?"

I nodded enthusiastically and hopped next to him on the bed. He made room and read aloud where he'd left off.

"'Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts,'" Dean read. "'I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible… a… a… a bat!'"

 ** _Yeah, Dean. You're Batman. ;)_**


	3. Smells Like Teen Angst (& Karaoke Bars)

**_Chapter 3: Smells Like Teen Angst (and Karaoke Bars)_**

 ** _Dean: 23  
Kate: 19_**

It'd been two weeks since Sam left for Stanford and a week since Dad had punched me in the mouth.

When we'd eventually returned to the motel room, it'd been tensely quiet until Dad sputtered slurred apology after apology. I took them in silence until we all went to bed, but I heard Dean chewing him out early in the morning.

Dad split soon after that.

"Do you think he's coming back?" I asked, slowly stirring the whipped cream into my shake with a straw.

"Who? Sam?" Dean assumed through a mouthful of cheeseburger. "Hell yeah. Little twerp's just trying to get this rebellious streak outta his system." He chomped up another bite, despite not having finished chewing the last.

"No," I clarified with my eyes locked back on my shake. "Dad."

Dean choked on his burger. "Dad? What're you talking about? Of course Dad's coming back."

I thought about that as I stirred. I didn't know if that made me relieved or disappointed. I little of both, I guessed.

Dean seemed to finally notice my mood because he slowed his desperate eating. "Why aren't you drinking your shake? The Kate I know is a freaking sugar psycho."

I pushed the shake away and looked at Dean across the booth. "What if we did our own thing for a little while? Like, we took our own cases and stuff."

He gave me a weird look. "We _are_ taking our own cases and stuff." He took a slow bite of his burger and managed to ask, "Who you tryin' to split from? Our shadows?"

I bit my lip and looked at the table. "No. No one. Just forget it." I pulled my shake back and took a slow drink of it.

"You on your period or somethin'?" Dean's eyes narrowed on me as he finished off his burger.

I turned my glare on him. _Nice._ It was a wonder how any girl wanted to sleep with him. "You're such an ass." I shoved myself out of the booth and stomped out of the diner.

"Kate!" Dean swore and chased after me.

I was leaning against the passenger side of the Impala with my arms crossed and my eyes on the asphalt when Dean marched up.

"What the hell is up with you?" he demanded as he unlocked the car and opened his door. I wordlessly got in and buckled. "Seriously, Kate, cut the drama and spit it out." He cranked the ignition and drove us out of the diner's parking lot, throwing me questioning looks the entire way.

"Nothing," I muttered. "I'm fine." Obviously, I wasn't. We both knew it, but I wasn't ready to share.

Because the truth was, I wanted Sam to come back. He was my other half, and he was so easy to talk to. But Sam wanted to be at Stanford more than he'd wanted to stay with me.

And the truth was, I wanted Dad to not come back. I could handle an occasional visit with him, but we'd never gotten along. And something broke between us when he hit me. But Dean was too much of Dad's hopeful soldier to consider splitting for good.

As we pulled up to our motel, Dean grumbled about teenage sisters but let it drop. When we got into the room, I grabbed my book and flopped down onto my bed.

After a few minutes, Dean nudged my foot. "Hey."

"What," I responded flatly, keeping my face buried in my book.

"We're outta cash," he said. "I gotta go hustle some pool chumps."

"Have fun." I returned my focus to my novel.

"And by that, I mean _we_ gotta go hustle some pool chumps." He considered that and amended, "Well, I gotta hustle; you gotta wait for me in the corner."

I flipped over and faced him with a scowl. "Why the hell do I have to go?" I knew why: I hadn't been left alone since Sam left, and Dean didn't like to have me out of his sight without my other brother around to help protect me. But I also knew there was no way Dean would admit that.

"Because I said so, that's why," he responded maturely, giving me his own bitch face. "Now grab your jacket and let's vamoose."

I crossed my arms and didn't move. "If I go, I get to a have a drink."

He gave me an amused, disbelieving look. "Yeah, if they start serving nineteen-year-old girls, you can have a drink."

I shrugged and flipped back over to return to my book. "One drink or I don't go." I nonchalantly flipped a page. I knew he'd cave; I'd had beer and wine before, and letting me have one beer wouldn't be the end of the world.

Dean groaned. "Fine. I'll get you _one_ drink." He latched onto my ankles and yanked me off the bed and onto the crappy carpet. "Let's go!"

I rubbed my hip where I'd landed and threw him an unappreciative look.

* * *

"There," Dean said, sliding a frothy glass of beer in front of me. It was actually pretty large; I was secretly impressed.

I looked down at it and then up at him. "But I didn't even get to pick my drink; I didn't want beer." (Honestly, I'd take what I could get, but I felt like pushing my luck.)

"Well, tough luck, sunshine," he scoffed. "That's all you're gettin'." He glanced around the wall to look at the pool table. "Alright, I'm gonna go make some money. And you're gonna keep your ass glued to this seat, got it?"

I was entirely tucked into a corner booth, barely visible to anyone. I frowned. "What if I have to pee?"

He gave me a level stare. "You gotta pee?"

"Pre-glass of beer?" I glanced at the tall, golden glass. "No."

He rolled his eyes. "You gotta pee, you come get me."

I rolled my eyes right back at him. "Wow, I didn't realize I'd been demoted back to kindergarten."

He ignored me. "Just read your stupid book and don't talk to anyone. I'll be back later." He gave me a final I'm-serious stare before striding around the corner and out of sight.

 _He's going to give himself a hernia before he's thirty,_ I thought as I pulled the glass up to my lips. I took a long pull before jerking back with a grimace. _Ugh! That little shit watered it down! It's almost half water!_

I glowered at the wall. I may not be able to see that big twerp, but I hoped that Dean could feel my annoyance radiating through the wall.

Well, whatever. I wasn't going to drink that almost-beer. I grabbed my cash and fake ID from my pocket and marched up to the bar. I kept myself on the opposite end of the bar as the pool tables so that the two sitting men could shield me.

"What can I getcha?" a gruff, older woman asked me as she slapped a towel over her shoulder. She adjusted her frayed, red hair under her cowboy hat and casually stared me down.

"Uh, I'll get a Martini," I said, pushing a bill across the bar.

"ID," she requested flatly as she turned to make the drink. I showed it to her, (Kate West was already twenty-one), and she accepted it. She pocketed the cash and pushed a martini with two skewered olives towards me.

I thanked her and bustled the drink back to my corner booth before Dean could see me. I quickly sat down and took a drink.

"God, that's awful," I muttered as I coughed at the burning in my throat. I looked down at the alcohol, pinched the toothpick of olives, and tossed it onto the table.

"Yeah, I don't like the olives either," a male voice noted in amusement. As I sipped my drink, I looked up to see a tall, dark, and handsome man stand beside my booth. He flashed me a pretty smile and held up a beer of his own. "Mind if I join you?"

"Uh…" I was supposed to say tell this guy to get lost. Dean would murder my face if he saw me drinking a martini with an older stranger. _But this guy was so pretty._ "Not at all!"

He happily, charmingly grinned and sat across from me. I smiled back and tried not to wilt under the sun that was his radiantly white smile.

He reached across the table and stuck out a large, tanned hand. "I'm Charles."

"Kate." I shook his hand and forced myself not to dwell on how warm and nice his hand had been. I took another drink of my martini and forced myself not to cough again. I looked at him over my drink and guessed he was in his mid-twenties.

"You from around here?" he asked pleasantly as he drank his beer.

 _Oh God, this was so cliché._ I shook my head and set my martini back down. "No, I'm just here for a few days."

He smiled kindly. "Me too. I came to see the new hospital I'm going to be doing residency at next month."

 _He was a doctor?! GOD._ I took a hasty sip of my martini to cover the shock of my pleading ovaries. When I recovered enough, I managed to squeak, "Wow, that's cool. You're a doctor, then?"

He nodded, slightly amused by my reaction. "In training. And what blew you into town?"

"I…" I never stumbled over my lies with strangers. _Pull yourself together, Katelyn._ "I'm here as a part of an investigation."

He was taking a drink of his beer, but his eyebrows rose in surprise. "Investigation? Are you a police officer?"

I shook my head. "PI." I finished off my martini.

He looked impressed. "Beautiful and smart." He noticed my empty martini glass. "Here, let me buy you another."

"Oh, no, thank you." Dean would kill me, and I didn't accept strangers' drinks. I was swimming in bubbling estrogen, but I hadn't completely lost my sanity. Yet.

He nodded his polite acceptance of my refusal. "So, Miss Investigator, what can you tell about me?" He flashed that award-winning smile and leaned back so I could get a full view.

My eyeballs greedily soaked him in. "You're a doctor," I stated the obvious, "and you're insanely pretty." _Oh, God. Did that just come out of my mouth?_

He chuckled and brought his elbows back to lean on the table. "Likewise."

The mix of alcohol and his compliment and looks had me feeling really warm. "Maybe I will get a drink."

He smiled and nodded and helped me out of the booth. As we walked to the bar, I glanced worriedly over at the pool table. Luckily, Dean was too absorbed in looking like a pool-playing loser (Stage One of his hustling) to notice me and the man at my side.

"What would you like?" Charles asked me, taking a bar stool with me.

I gaped at the back counter of alcohol. "Um…"

"What haven't you tried before?" he offered encouragingly.

It would've been a lot easier to go over what I had had. "Whiskey." Dean and Dad drank it often. I accidentally tasted it when I was little, but I'd never actually had it before.

Charles asked the bartender for two shots of the best Scotch.

When the two filled shot glasses were slid in front of us, I looked at it nervously.

He chuckled and held up his glass. "You've never had any Whiskey before?"

I shook my head and grabbed my glass.

He gently tapped mine with his own. "Cheers." He threw his back, and I tried to do the same. I was coughing and spluttering before I could get it all down.

He laughed in delight at my reaction. My eyes were pricking at the burning in my throat. _And I'd thought the martini was killer…_

"Would you like some water?" he asked me, still amused.

I shook my head and set down the empty shot glass. "I'm good." My voice sounded choked.

He laughed again and called the bartender back over. "Two Bourbons, please."

* * *

I don't even know when I became hammered. I'd only had three shots when Mr. Perfect Teeth Charles decided I'd had enough.

"Well, I don't know about perfect teeth," he commented with a smirk, his speech slurring and his hair slightly tousled now. "I've got a slightly uneven back molar."

"Did I say that out loud?!" I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands. He nodded with a smile, and I laughed.

Crappy music came from a back portion of the bar, and I pointed at the small stage eagerly. "Karaoke!" I couldn't sing for the life of me, and I wanted everyone in that bar to know it.

Charles nodded enthusiastically and grabbed my hand. We ran on up to the stage, grabbed the microphones, and hurriedly picked the first song I recognized.

"Buddy you're a strong man, hard man, long man, take over the world someday!" I sang as the music started up. I had no idea how badly I was butchering the lyrics, and I didn't think Charles did either.

"We will, we will rock you!" Charles and I sang together.

"Woo!" I cheered, laughing hysterically and stumbling over a stool.

"Kate!"

I looked up to see Dean marching up to me. He was fuming.

"Dean!" I called happily as Charles continued singing. "They have _Queen!_ "

Dean didn't look very happy about that. He just grabbed me by my upper arm and pulled me off the stage.

" _Ow!_ " I protested. He was grabbing my arm really tight, and I wasn't done with my song yet!

"Kate!" Charles called out in a laugh. "Where ya going?!"

I waved to him as Dean hauled me out of the bar and out into the cool night air. I blinked in surprise at the freshness of outside.

"How much did you drink, Katelyn?!" Dean demanded angrily.

I blinked. "It is really fresh air out here." I took in a long gulp of air and puffed it out.

Dean grabbed me by my shoulders and stared hard down at me. "What did you drink?!"

My eyes rolled around as I tried to think about that. I dunno. "Like whiskey and olives but not the olives because those aren't good so just the liquid part of that and other whiskey and it burned my throat. Like, _a lot._ "

Dean suddenly released me, and I swayed a little bit. "God, how could you be so stupid?! I told you to sit your ass in that booth and _not move!_ "

I frowned. "I did! But then I wanted to try something new, well, Charles asked what was new, and I wanted to sing on the stage even though I can't actually sing but I think I did OK because it's karaoke and not _American Idol_ —"

He grabbed my arm and marched us over to the Impala. He didn't say anything, and he looked really angry, but he helped me get into the passenger's seat.

"D'you get the money?!" I asked suddenly. He'd been playing pool!

I didn't think he was going to answer because he was buckling my seatbelt for me but then I heard him mutter, "Yeah."

I slapped at his leather jacket in excitement. "Woohoo! You're so awesome!"

He pulled away and closed the door.

I smiled at him as he got into the driver's seat. He scowled at me and started the car.

As we drove (well, _I_ didn't drive because Dean was driving), I started babbling. "God, I feel so good! Like, like, like so _free!_ Ugh. Life just sucks lately, ya know?! But who cares now! It's like tomorrow isn't ever, ever, ever, ever going to come anymore!"

"Kate." Dean dragged a hand down his face. He always does that.

"But who cares! Sam is off at Strandford which is cool because he's happy and _fuck him!_ I don't need him! Sharing a womb doesn't mean anything because you can leave each other for something stupid like college because that matters way more than family anyways, right?!"

Dean looked over at me, all worried and stuff.

I turned to him with a knowing look and a point. "You know, this whole family is berserk. Mom _died._ Sam up and _left us._ And Dad punched me in the face! Who does that?! I mean, I know we _fought,_ but I still can't get over it, you know?"

We were in a parking lot, but Dean didn't get out; he just turned off the car, so I just sat there too.

"I wish I didn't have to see him again," I confessed sloppily. "Dad's the worst. You're his lil' warrior or whatever, but Dad _sucks_ as a dad. I mean, I'd be fine seeing him on holidays or crap, but, uh, he, he isn't nice, and I don't like him."

Dean leaned against his door and listened to me ramble which was so cool of him. He usually told me to shut up by now; Sam was the Listener in our family.

I slumped against my seat. "But, whatever. I'm not gonna run away or anything. Sam did. Actually, Sam had me apply to some colleges too, but I wasn't gonna ditch you or whatever. I dunno. I think if you weren't here, I would've killed myself by now. The world is so lonely, huh."

"Don't say crap like that." Dean was frowning at me, and his arms were crossed across his chest. His arms looked huge. Huuuuuuuuuge.

"It's truuuuuue," I told him truthfully. "I'd KIIIIIIILL myself, Dean."

"Yeah, well, it looks like you're halfway there with alcohol poisoning, dumbass," he grumbled and got out of the Impala. "Get out."

I fumbled with my seatbelt and stumbled out of the car when Dean came over next to me. He had his arm around me, and we walked towards our crappy, crappy, crappy motel.

"I'm going to kill you in the morning," Dean told me as I slumped down onto my bed. "If the hangover doesn't, at least."

I laughed. "Hangover!"

He almost smiled at me. "Yeah, you ain't gonna laugh at it in the morning, kid."

I smiled into my pillow and watched him as he walked around the room. "I love you, Dean. You're soooo nice to me."

He rolled his eyes. "Go to sleep, Katie."

"Mmkay…" I closed my eyes. "Hmph… Thanks, Dean."

"For what?"

"…You," I mumbled eventually. "I canalways count in you…"

"…Love you, too, kid."


	4. Birthdays and Made-for-TV Movies

**Thank you so much for your responses! And to the reviewer who mentioned missing Sammy-here you go. ;)**

 ** _Chapter 4: Birthdays and Made-for-TV Movies_**

 ** _Dean: 21  
Sam & Kate: 16_**

We'd gone to the lake house in Lawrence once Dean could legally drink. The lake house was one of my favorite safe houses, left to us by one of Dad's old (and dead) hunting buddies. It stood for good memories and our family being together.

"Let's go, son," Dad said as he walked out the front door. The screen door slammed behind him, but he left the real one wide open.

Unless, of course, Dad couldn't be bothered to care about more than one of his kids at a time.

"Bye," I muttered bitterly under my breath as I plopped myself onto a kitchen stool. Dad was always such a dick.

Dean looked between Sammy and me with concern. "You two gonna be OK?"

"Fine," I grumbled as I traced my index finger on the white tiles of the kitchen island. "You better go before Dad gets pissed. I'd hate to cut your buddy-buddy time short."

Sam rolled his eyes and took the stool next to me. He looked weird and gangly on the stool. His eternal growth spurt was stretching out his limbs like noodles. "Kate's just being dramatic. Go get wasted." Sam was always nice to me and Dean. But he was always _nicest_ when Dad wasn't around; Sam could hardly stand him anymore. Too much testosterone or something.

Dean sighed and came closer to me. "Hey." I didn't look up, so he put his fingers under my chin and tilted it up. His eyes searched mine. "You know I wouldn't want to celebrate any other way than with you two."

"But there you go." My smile was bitter. What Dad said, Dean did. It was as simple as that.

As Dean's eyes darkened with guilt, my gut twisted with guilt of its own. "Just go. We'll be fine."

The car horn sounded, and Dean took a hesitant step back. "You sure?"

I made my smile reassuring as I wrapped an arm around Sam's overgrown shoulders. "Yep. I've got the Jolly Green Giant here to keep me entertained."

Dean smirked as Sam rolled his eyes. Dean ducked down and pulled out a baggie from underneath the couch and tossed it our way. Sam's freakishly long arms caught it before I could.

"Don't let me come home to you two bouncing off the walls," Dean told us warningly as Sam opened up the giant baggie of Red Vines, gummy bears, and Kit Kats. "I'm gonna be drunk enough as it is." His warning eyes rested on me. (Which was fair. I always got kind of insane when I inhaled too much sugar.)

"Uh-huh," Sam answered absently as he dug through the bag. I was too absorbed by all of the sugar-infused options to care about Dean at that point.

I heard a chuckle and then a door slam.

"This isn't all we got," Sam said conspiratorially as he jumped off the stool. We listened to the Impala drive away before Sam opened a corner cabinet. He used his string bean limbs to reach into the very back and pull out a six pack of Coors. He gave me a devilish smile.

"Sam Winchester!" I grinned in disbelief. "And here I was, thinking you'd spend the night studying for your SAT's."

His smile became sheepish. "We deserve a break for all the crap that Dad shoves on us."

I yanked a beer from its plastic hold and raised it in agreement. "Here, here." Anxious excitement spiked through me. I'd tasted Dean's beer and wine before, and I'd gotten into some liquor when I was little, but I'd never had a whole can to myself. We were dead meat if Dad or Dean found out about this.

"Help me bring it up to our room," Sam told me as he grabbed the beer. He shoved the candy stash towards me, and I scooped it up. "We can bring the TV up and watch it in there." He started on the stairs.

I trotted after his long strides, holding the sugar supply. "How the hell did you swing the beer?"

He shrugged. "I've been stashing it in my bag ever since we left Bobby's." We dropped the stuff on the bed and headed for the stairs again.

"You stole from _Bobby?_ " I asked in disbelief. _Who was this Sammy?_

"He has tons of alcohol; he'll never notice," Sam assured me as we walked into the living room. "And if he does, he'll just blame Dean; he'd be more likely to steal beer than me or you."

 _Wow._ My twin brother was so much cooler than I usually gave him credit for.

"Grab that side," Sam told me as he gripped the other side of the ancient, antennaed TV. I followed his instruction willingly.

* * *

After hauling the heavy TV up the stairs and scooting it into our shared room at the end of the hall, Sam and I shoved our twin beds to the center of the room. Sam adjusted the antennas on the TV as I laid out our beer and candy stash.

"How is this dinosaur still alive?" I asked with a disbelieving nod towards the TV. That thing was prehistoric with its black-and-white screen and antennas.

"Be grateful because it's all we got," Sam said as he turned the channel dial. "What do you wanna watch?" The screen changed between five main channels before repeating itself: news, news, PBS, static, and some movie.

"Movie," I decided as I flopped backwards onto my bed. I grabbed a handful of Red Vines and a beer.

Sam adjusted the dial to the movie channel and crawled onto his bed. He cracked open a can and took a long pull of the drink. I did likewise and grimaced slightly. Nothing like strong, warm beer…

 _"Danny, I love you," the woman on screen confessed desperately. "I swear to you, that this is your baby!"_

"God, what are we watching?" I asked as I gnawed on a strand of Red Vine.

 _"How can I trust you?" the man in the movie demanded back, equally desperate. "After everything?"_

Their acting was horrendous.

"Uh, some made-for-TV, I guess," Sam responded as he tossed some gummy bears back.

 _Of course, that's what we would be stuck watching,_ I thought _._ I downed a long swig of the Coors.

 _"I'll do anything to make you believe me!" the actress's character pled._

 _The actor looked down on her. "Tell me something that'll make me believe you."_

Sam turned to me with a dead stare. "Let me guess—it's gonna be 'I love you.'"

 _"I love you!" the woman proclaimed._

I smirked at my brother. "Wow, Sam. Have you been catching up on your rom-coms?"

He smirked and took a drink of his beer. "Only on weekends."

I grinned and leaned my head against his arm. Cheesy, badly-acted movie or not, this would be one of those nights that I'd cherish for the rest of my life.

"Thanks, Sammy," I murmured quietly as the on-screen couple wailed on.

"For what?"

The corner of my mouth twitched up. "Not sucking. When everything else kind of… sucks."

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders so I could lean more fully on him. "You always have my back, Katie. And I'll always have yours."

I smiled contently and believed him.


	5. Trick-or-Treat

**Another chapter for you kind, supportive humans. :)**

 ** _Chapter 5: Trick-or-Treat_**

 ** _Dean: 13  
Sam & Kate: 9_**

"Dean, what're the rules?"

"Lock the door and don't answer it for anyone but you."

"And most importantly?"

"Keep an eye on Sammy and Katie."

Dad ruffled Dean's hair. "Don't let them out of your _sight._ " He grinned fondly over to where Sam and I were engrossed in motel cartoons. "Sammy, Katie, I'm headin' out. Listen to your brother." At thirteen, Dean became our makeshift Dad when Real Dad wasn't around—which was often.

Sam turned to me with a superior look. " _I'm_ your brother."

I frowned and shoved him. "He wasn't talking about _you!_ "

"Knock it off," Dad commanded us before turning to Dean and saying he'd only be gone 'till tomorrow morning.

Dad must've left sometime right after that, but I didn't notice; it'd been a really good episode of _Tom and Jerry_.

"Dean, can we go trick-or-treating tonight?" Sam asked. That caught my attention. I looked over at Dean where he'd collapsed onto the bed.

Dean hesitated at our hopeful faces. "Uh… ya know what Dad would say, Sammy. Besides, it's dumb that there's a whole holiday where kids go asking strangers for candy."

I frowned and turned back towards the TV.

Sam didn't give up as easily. "Oh, come on, Dean! It's Halloween, and Dad's not here! And you can still go trick-or-treating with us, too!"

Dean scoffed at that. "I'm way too old for _trick-or-treating,_ Sammy."

" _Please?!_ " Sam scrambled up away from the carpet and over to Dean's bed. "We never get to go! All the other kids go every year, and they're always fine!"

Dean groaned. "We don't even have costumes, man."

"I do!" I proclaimed, still watching _Tom and Jerry_.

"You do?" Dean was disbelieving.

I nodded and got up to get my backpack. I unzipped it and pulled out a fluffy, pink princess dress. "Mrs. Hernandez had us do a Halloween picture at school in our costumes today, but I didn't have one so she gave me one." I didn't care that the sleeve was a little torn or at the edges of the skirts were dirty; I had my very own Halloween costume.

"Pretty sure you were supposed to give that back, kid," Dean told me.

I shrugged and went back to my show, still holding my dress.

"See, Dean?! Katie already has her costume! I can find something—I promise!"

"Ugh, I don't know, Sammy. Dad would be seriously pissed if he knew I took you guys around to random people…"

Sammy suddenly ran in front of the TV, blocking my view of my favorite cat and mouse. I frowned and tried to shove him out of the way. He pushed me back and looked at me seriously. "Katie! Do you even _know_ what trick-or-treating _is?_ "

"It's Halloween," I said. I wasn't stupid.

He shook his head. "Trick-or-treating is where all the kids dress up and go to every house and get candy. _Every door hands out free candy, Katie._ "

I stilled and stared at him. "Everyone gives out free candy?" My sugar-loving heart beat a little faster.

"Oh, Sam, that's not fair," Dean protested. "You can't drag the human sweet-tooth to your side!"

It was too late; I was sold. I hurried up and over to Dean's bed and landed on his chest. "PLEASE, DEAN! _Can we?_ Can we _PLEASE_ go?!"

Dean groaned and pushed me off of his chest. "Fine! But you guys have to hide your candy and never, ever tell Dad."

Sam and I launched ourselves at him in hugs and gratitude.

* * *

"Where's your costume, Deany?" I asked. He was standing by the room's door in the same jeans and t-shirt that he'd worn to school.

"I'm not trick-or-treating; I'm just sticking with you two," he told me. "And don't call me Deany."

I didn't know why he didn't like that nickname; he called Sam "Sammy" and me "Katie."

"Let's go, Sam!" Dean called. "We'll have to split early if you take for-freaking-ever!"

Sam rushed out of the bathroom in black pants, a black long-sleeve shirt, and a black beanie over his head. He grinned and grabbed his empty pillowcase from Dean.

Dean squinted down at him as he handed me my empty pillow case. "What the hell are you? A lump of coal?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm a ninja. Or a bank robber. Or both."

"You look like a shadow," I told him.

"You look like a five-year-old," he shot back, eyeing my pink, sparkly dress.

Before I could attack, Dean intercepted. "Hey, hey, if you two are gonna be stupid, we're not gonna go. Got it?"

We nodded meekly and followed our big brother out of the motel room.

"Do we start here?" I asked, pointing at the door next to ours.

Dean shook his head. "We go to the good stuff." He led us around the corner and over to the next block where all the big, suburban houses were lined up. It was just past dusk, and groups of kids in costumes were migrating door-to-door to get their shares of free candy.

"Let's start at this end and then loop back around!" Sam suggested eagerly as we walked towards the corner house. I pushed past him, scurried up to the front door, and rang the doorbell. This may have been my first time trick-or-treating, but I was an anticipatory learner.

Dean stayed out on the main sidewalk and watched as a middle-aged woman opened the door and handed out fun-sized Butterfingers.

"Nice!" I cheered as we walked across the lawn, back to Dean. I looked down into my pillowcase to see that lone piece of chocolate calling to me.

"Next one!" Sam encouraged me. As we walked up towards it, I pulled the Butterfingers open, threw the wrapper back into my case, and stuffed the candy into my mouth. I was finished chewing by the time the second house had dropped a Snickers into my pillowcase.

And then, as we walked up to the third house, I fished out the Snickers. I ate it as an elderly woman dropped a Babe Ruth into my pillowcase, and I dropped the wrapper back into my bag.

And then I grabbed the Babe Ruth. And so it went on and on and on until we looped back around to the end of the neighborhood.

Sam bounced over to Dean, and I slowly followed behind; I wasn't feeling so good anymore.

"Can we go to the next neighborhood?" Sam asked eagerly.

"You guys got enough," Dean said as we walked back down to the motel. "It's getting late anyways." Sam grudgingly relented.

By the time we got back to our motel room, I was really not feeling good. My stomach was making weird rumbling sounds, and I was getting clammy.

"Alright, lay out the hauls," Dean told us as he flicked on the lights. "I gotta check to make sure there's no needles and crap."

I suddenly felt worse.

Sam went over to the table and dumped out his pile of candy. Dean looked expectantly over at me.

I held my pillowcase a little closer. "I already looked at mine; they're fine."

Dean frowned. "Just dump it out, Katie." Sam was already excitedly picking through his haul.

When I didn't move, Dean rolled his eyes and snatched my pillowcase from my hands. He stopped short when he felt how light the bag was. I watched in terror as he looked in the bag and became horrified. He reached a long arm in and swished it around. "You ate it all?! KATIE! _There's only wrappers in here!_ "

"I left the Hot Tamales," I mumbled lamely. Those were gross.

His fiery eyes locked onto me. "I'm supposed to check 'em over first, dumbass! And you can't eat them all at once!"

I frowned. "Well, how was I supposed to know?! I've never been trick-or-treating before!"

"Katie—!"

I didn't catch the end of that. Because as he went to chew me out again, my stomach decided that it was done, and it was revolting. I launched myself into the bathroom and made it over the toilet just in time for all of my candy to violently resurface.

I clutched the toilet bowl and heaved up partially-digested sugar and goo a few more times.

"Here." Dean pushed a glass of water in front of my face once it was all over.

I took it with a shaky hand and took a small sip.

Dean rubbed his face. "God, you're so stupid."

I was desolate. "The candy betrayed me."

"Yeah, if you try to cram an entire store's worth of it down your throat." He shook his head and helped me up. "You gonna puke again?" I shook my head sadly. "Let's get you out of this stupid dress."

Sam was looking over his candy when we came back into the main room. He glanced up as Dean handed me my pajamas. "I can't believe you ate the whole bag!"

"I left the Hot Tamales," I grumbled as I pulled my pajama bottoms on under the dress.

Sam ignored me. "I mean, I noticed you sneaking some candy every now and then, but—wow."

Dean glared over at him. "You saw her going sugar-nuts and didn't think to warn her? Or _me?_ "

Sam shrugged and bent back over his candy.

Dean griped under his breath as I pulled off the dress in exchange for my pajama shirt.

As Dean tossed my dress aside, I frowned. "Are you gonna tell Dad?"

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Hell no. And you better not either." He led me over to his bed. He helped me into the covers and then turned his sights on my twin. "You too, Sammy. One word to Dad, and your candy will freaking disappear."

Sammy looked over at us and scooted a little protectively towards his pile of candy.

Dean rolled his eyes and grudgingly went over to inspect Sam's candy, popping the Hot Tamales from my bag into his mouth.

"Thanks, Dean," I told him as I settled into his pillows. "Trick-or-treating was fun."

"Yeah, thanks, Dean," Sam echoed as he snatched up a Three Musketeers.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the best," Dean dismissed us as he plopped into a chair. He chewed the Hot Tamales as Sam went after his candy.

As he dug into a Milky Way, Sam froze. He'd felt my eyes on him, and he looked up to meet my gaze. His eyes suddenly narrowed. "If you even think about touching my candy, Katie, I'll pummel you."

I grinned.


	6. Alone Time

**Update: Had about 20,000 formatting errors when posting this so here's the revised-formatting edition. Enjoy!**

 _ **Chapter 6: Alone Time**_

 _ **Dean: 16**_  
 _ **Sam & Kate: 11**_

It was a particular warm day for a Montana April, so I'd spent my whole school day not listening to my teachers. I figured we'd already been at this school for two weeks; we'd probably skip town before my assignments (or lack thereof) caught up with me. And sixth grade wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things, anyways.

So, I'd thought about nothing but an ice cream cone for the entirety of that day. A big one. A vanilla one. Rainbow sprinkles on top, because every edible thing needed sugar with a side of sugar.

But when school ended, my hopes at an ice cream stop were dashed. As I walked out to the Impala, I saw Dean in the driver's seat, smirking at some leggy brunette in the passenger's seat. I rolled my eyes and stomped my way to the backseat of the car. I slammed the door a little harder than necessary.

Dean snapped out of the chick's spell long enough to throw a glance back at me. "Hey, kid. Where's Sammy?" He grinned as he returned his attention to the smiling girl. I didn't get an introduction, so he must've already mentioned Sam and me to the girl. _Whatever._

I slumped against the door with my arms crossed. "He joined the stupid chess club. He said he'd get a ride back to the motel around five." _Stupid Sam. He isn't even here to hate this chick with me._

Dean scoffed as he started the car. He turned to the girl with a conspiratorial look. "My little brother is kind of the world's biggest nerd." He pulled the car out of the school pickup lot.

 _Like you care about your siblings right now, Dean,_ I thought angrily as my big brother grinned at the girl. I pulled out my MiniDisc, shoved the headphones over my ears, and blasted out my brother's romance with Radiohead.

We stopped at some point, and Dean smacked my knee to get my attention. I grudgingly pushed the headphones off and looked at him.

"I need to get some stuff real quick," Dean told me. I glanced out the window to see we were pulled up to a gas station minimart. "Want anything?"

"An ice cream cone," I told him.

He rolled his eyes. "They don't do ice cream cones here." He looked to the brunette, grabbed a kiss, and then got out of the Impala, muttering about kid sisters and sugar drives.

I stared out the window, glaring daggers into Dean's back for leaving me in the car with Brunette Barbie.

Brunette Barbie turned around in her seat to give me a smile. "Hi! I'm Lauren."

"Kate." I didn't return the smile.

She cleared her throat and tucked some of her stringy, thin hair behind her ear. "So, you're in fifth grade? That's—"

"What do you want?" I demanded, cutting to the chase with a slight glower. Pretty girls only made small talk with me for one thing.

She blinked at me with wide eyes. "I, um, I wanted to spend some time… alone with your brother." _Bingo._ "So, if you could, like, find somewhere else to…"

I kept up my dead stare. "Are you kicking me out of my motel room?"

She looked at me before huffing and digging into her jean's pocket. She pulled out a five dollar bill and held it out. "I'll give you five bucks if you find somewhere else to be for the next few hours."

I frowned but took the money. "Where am I supposed to go?"

"I don't know," she said absently. She pulled down the sun visor and started checking her lip liner. "The movies or something? Don't you have friends that you can play with?"

I pursed my lips and stared down at the money. I hadn't really made any friends at my school yet. At least none that I was close enough with to meet up with after school.

Dean pulled open the door and slid back into the driver's seat. As I stuffed the cash into my pocket, Dean handed Lauren a bottle of Coke and a grin. He looked back to me and tossed back a bag of Goldfish. "They were out of m&m's."

I glowered down at my stupid crackers. I wasn't against Goldfish, per say, but they totally sucked when all you had been thinking about for eight hours was an ice cream cone with sprinkles. _And who the hell runs out of m &m's?_

As Dean pulled the car back onto the main road, I spoke up. "Can you drop me off at my friend's house?"

Dean threw a surprised look back to me. "What friend?" Lauren leaned over and whispered in Dean's ear, taking his attention.

 _Ew._ "Uh, Laney." That was the name of the girl that I sometimes sat by at lunch.

"Y-yeah," Dean said as Lauren's tongue dipped into his ear. _DOUBLE EW._ "Where does she live?"

I gave out vague directions until we drove into a neighborhood area. Lauren was still hanging onto Dean's arm and occasionally whispering to him, and I think she was trying to encourage him to drop me like a brick. _Awesome._

"Uh, it's this one," I mumbled with a point to a typical, suburban house. I had no idea who lived there.

Dean pulled up to the curb. Lauren directed her attentions to his neck, making him unfocused. "Call me when you're done. I'll come pick you up." Dean gestured towards the giant cellphone by the dash that Dad gave us for when he went on hunts.

I shook my head. "I'll just… get Laney's parents to drive me back when I'm done." I wasn't gonna wait around in some stupid suburban neighborhood. And there was no way in hell Dean would've let me walk around the town alone.

Dean nodded absently and brought Lauren's lips up to his. I rolled my eyes and got out of the car. I left my backpack and crackers but grabbed my MiniDisc player. As I walked up towards the front door of the house, the Impala sped away. I stopped before I reached the door and let out an annoyed sigh.

 _I could go to the movies. It's still matinée pricing._ I thought about my five dollars. _And I could get that ice cream afterwards._

With that destination in mind, I started my trek through the gross heat to the nearby movie theater.

* * *

After watching some mostly-plotless action flick, I spent the rest of my money on an ice cream cone. I licked it happily, glad to have finally gotten my sugar fix.

As I strolled down the road, I looked up at the setting sun. It was probably around five by now. Sam would be back soon, snuffing out the grossness in our motel room. It was probably safe to head back by now.

 _Oh my god,_ I thought as I walked in the direction of the motel. _If Dean had sex with that girl on our bed, I'm never going to sleep again._ With a shudder, I made a vow to only sleep in Sam's bed for the rest of our stay in that room, no matter how much he tossed and turned.

I shoved my headphones on and tried to use music to blast away those gross thoughts about my brother's activities.

I was only a couple of blocks away from the motel when a large hand roughly latched onto my arm. I hadn't heard him because of my music, and the remainder of my ice cream cone fell to the pavement. I looked up with fearful eyes to see a burly man glare down at me. He hadn't shaved in a while, and he smelled a lot like when Dad comes home from the bar.

He yanked off my headphones, clattering my music player to the ground. He never let go of my arm. "Where's your parents, girl?"

Dad always made us do stupid training. He always made us be aware of everything. And he was going to kill me when he heard word of this.

"Around the corner," I lied softly. "They said I could go for a walk."

He shook his head and gripped my forearm tighter. "Then they're stupid!" He was a little wobbly, but his grip on me never let up. "You could die out here!"

I yanked away from him, but he wouldn't let me go. My eyes teared up at the painfully increasing pressure. "Let me go!"

"They need to remember how easily they could lose their child!" he bellowed, emotions overcoming him. "I did! And it could happen to them, just as easily!" He brought his large, meaty fist down on my face, breaking the skin around my left eye. I could feel the flare of pain and trickling of blood. I let out a cry and collapsed to the ground. I knew that if I acted as vulnerable as possible, I might get a chance to bolt; there was no way I could fight this giant off.

"I, I'm sorry," the man sobbed. His hand let go of my arm, and the rush of blood back to the limb was like a thousand needle pricks. "They, they just have to know. It hurts. It hurts when your child…" He sobbed and fell to his knees. "I'm sorry."

Drunk people had always scared me because they were so unpredictable. And drunk, burly giants scared the crap out of me. I tentatively grabbed my music player where it had fallen. I took a step around the man, hoping he wouldn't grab me again. He didn't. As soon as I cleared his proximity, I took off, running the entire way back to the motel.

When I got back to the room, I was out of breath and shaking. I stumbled into the door and looked around.

From the table, Sam looked up at me with alarm. Dean was nowhere in sight. "Kate? What-what happened to you?"

I frowned, trying to not let tears come. Because if I cried, I would sob. The shock of the moment was the only thing holding me together.

"Are you OK?" Sam asked, standing and slowly getting closer to me. He stared at my face with a worried expression. "What happened—"

I didn't realize that I had been backing away from him until the opening door narrowly missed smacking me down.

"Woah, why are you standing so close—" Walking in, Dean dropped his sentence as he caught sight of my bruised, bloodied eye. He dropped a bag of food on the carpet and shut the door. "What the hell happened?!" A look of rage seeped into his features as he looked me over, and my emotions flooded me. I ran at him and hugged him, collapsing into a sobbing fit.

Dean hugged me back, stiff with shock. He lifted me into his arms as I wailed, holding me close until he sat us on the bed.

He pulled back and searched my face. "What happened, Katie?"

As I tried to stifle my sobs, I rubbed my tears away. I winced as my knuckles pushed against my sensitive eye.

"Sammy, can you go grab us some ice?" Dean asked over my shoulder.

Sam nodded, gave me a quick hug and reassurance, and left the room.

I frowned as I calmed my aching, heaving chest. I was still mad at Dean for ditching me earlier. If he hadn't brought that stupid girl home, I wouldn't've ran into that guy. My shock was wearing off, so my tears were almost all dried.

"Kate, talk to me," Dean demanded gently, pulling my chin up to look at him. His eyes were worried, angered, and pleading.

But I furrowed my brow and gave him a glower. He didn't care about me earlier. He only cared now because this happened. If I had just walked in without the black eye, he never would've given a second thought about where I'd been.

I shoved myself off of his lap and stomped over to the table. My backpack was there on a chair, and I pulled it towards me.

"Katie?" Dean's voice was reaching really worried now. "Please, talk to me. I'm freaking out here. What happened? Did Laney hurt you?"

I tugged my homework folder out of my backpack and laid it on the table. I glared at my brother. "It doesn't matter." I grabbed a pencil from my bag and sat down.

Dean gaped at me. "It sure as hell matters! Drop me a name, and I'll go rip 'em a new one right here and now."

I ignored him and pulled out my math worksheet.

"Kate! Just tell me what—" Dean's irritated demand was cut off as Sam opened the door with a cup full of ice. Dean threw up a frustrated hand and dropped onto the bed. Sam looked between us, headed towards the bathroom, and came back with a hand towel.

"Thanks, Sammy," I said softly as he pushed the makeshift icepack against my eye. The cold was harsh but welcome to the throbbing.

"Are you OK?" Sam asked, his eyes full of worry.

I nodded.

"Oh," Dean scoffed, "so you'll talk to him but—"

"Dean, just let me talk to her," Sam said, throwing our brother a look. He turned back to me, gently. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

I shrugged with a frown. "Sorta. It's over, so it doesn't really matter anymore." I kept my voice quiet so that Dean was made perfectly aware that he wasn't a party in this conversation. He could go suck face elsewhere for all I cared.

Sam thought about that for a minute before saying, "I beat like three all-time champs at our club match today. They felt really stupid for being creamed by an eleven-year-old." He gave me a small, victorious smirk.

I gave a small one back. "Congrats, Sam. You're a bigger nerd than all of the other nerds."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You spend almost as much time in the library as I do, reading—"

I hid my face in the icepack and waved off his words. "Stop. I have a reputation to keep up."

"Yeah, good job with that," he said sarcastically with a wave towards my bruised face.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I know you're still fishing, and you didn't annoy the hell out of me today, so I'll talk to you, I guess." I looked down at my lap and mumbled, "I ran into some drunk guy on the street, and he grabbed me and punched me."

"WHAT?!" Dean jumped off the bed, where he'd been silently eavesdropping. He leaned down towards me with a furious expression. "I'm going to kill that bastard! Where is he, Kate? Did he touch you more than that?"

I grudgingly put my anger towards Dean on the backburner so he could get the answer he was demanding. "I don't know. It was a couple blocks away. He just grabbed my arm and hit me because he wanted my parents to care or something." I frowned, thinking about how mentally unstable that man was.

Dean dragged his hand over his face and tried to collect himself.

Sam was frowning too. "I thought Laney's parents were going to give you a ride home…?"

I gently poked my blue arm. It was throbbing worse than my face now. I brought the ice pack to it instead. "I didn't go to Laney's house. I don't really know her that well."

Dean grabbed onto the chair next to me and spat, "I dropped you off at her freaking house, Kate! Where the hell did you go?!"

I glared at him. "You dropped me off at some stranger's house! Your girlfriend paid me to get lost—which you might've had a clue about if you weren't so focused on sticking your tongue down her throat!"

He leaned back as his brow furrowed. "She paid you?"

I rolled my eyes. "She didn't want me coming back to the motel with you." I glanced over at the beds and grimaced.

Dean let out a huff. "Katie, I'm sorry that—"

"It doesn't matter," I cut him off as I stood back up. "You should get to have time alone with girls. Sam should be able to go to stupid club meetings without worrying about babysitting me, and I should have friends. I shouldn't need you two around all the freaking time." I stomped towards the door.

"Hey, I didn't—" Dean reached out for my arm, but he grabbed the bruised one, and I instantly crumpled with a cry. "Shit!" Dean let go of my arm like it was on fire and pulled me into his arms. "I'm so sorry! God, I—I'm so sorry for being a jerk."

I rested my head against his chest and held back the reoccurring tears. "It's not your fault. You're not responsible for everything, Dean. Sorry for blaming you."

I felt him shake his head. "You're my responsibility. I should've known that you didn't have anywhere to go today. And I'm supposed to be there to beat up any jerks who so much as look at you weird."

I tucked my head underneath his chin. "You do it too much. You deserve to be a teenager, too."

He released a harsh sigh. "It's not worth it if something bad could happen to you."

I frowned at that. He shouldn't have to choose. I shouldn't need to be his responsibility. _Why was life so unfair?_

I hadn't even noticed that Sam had slipped out to refill the cup of ice again, but he handed me two makeshift icepacks and a sympathetic look.

I balanced one on my bruised arm and held the other up to my eye. "Sammy, you're Mr. Emotional in this family. Join our hug."

Sam rolled his eyes as we smirked, but he leaned down and held us.

After a moment, Dean cleared his throat. "OK, that's enough feelings for the day." We pulled away and looked to each other with soft smiles. Dean looked at me closely and said, "Do you think that guy's still out there? Sammy and I could totally go and whoop his ass right now." My brothers exchanged an entirely macho smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't totally suck, Dean. I just couldn't take this giant guy down by myself."

"Well, good thing you'll never have to worry about that," Dean said as he made sure he had his ankle knife on him. He turned to me with a point. "And I don't want you wandering around the streets by yourself again, _ever._ You know better."

I gave him a look. "So if I'm thirty, I'll need to call you for permission to go on a walk?"

He kept his expression unaffected as he repeated, " _Ever._ "

I lolled my head to give Sam my can-you-believe-this-guy expression. To my surprise, Sam held up his hands and said, "I'm with Dean on this one."

My brothers exchanged approving looks as I rolled my eyes. As annoying as these two could be, I was grateful. They were insane, loveable, smothering freaks.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

 **Aw, the cheese. ;)**


	7. Civilized Vamps Are Still Vamps

**_Chapter 7: Civilized Vamps Are Still Vamps_**

 ** _Dean: 17_**  
 ** _Sam & Kate: 13_**

I was feeling really weak. I usually didn't feel amazing after donating blood, but it seemed a small price for a large sum of fifty dollars. I was using the money to buy clothes for school, but I was subtle about it. If Sammy or my dad asked, I always just told them that I was borrowing them from some friends at school. I didn't need them asking about where I was getting the money.

Fifty bucks in my pocket, I staggered back to our motel. Dad was probably out finding stuff out about a hunt, and Sam was probably studying in the library. Which was honestly perfect because my body was basically screaming for a nap.

I pushed open the motel room door and froze. I'd been wrong—I was definitely not going to be getting a nap in today.

"Katie!" Dean cheered as he grinned at me over a burger. He set down the burger and pushed himself off the bed. He came at me with open arms.

"Dean?" I asked in shock. With wide eyes, I held him in the hug. _He'd been gone for months! Some boys' home correctional thing—_

"Yeah, Dad finally sprung me out of the slammer." He said it like it didn't matter. "How've you been? Damn, you've grown, haven't you?"

I pulled away and looked up at him. "How long are you here for?"

"Forever." He rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was happy to see me. "Where's that nerd brother of ours?"

"The l-library," I said. "Is Dad here?"

Dean waved his hand. "Dad found out about some big hunt. He brought me back here to look after you nutjobs."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "We're not ten, Dean. We don't need someone to look after us."

"You're thirteen," Dean said as he walked back to his burger. "And, yeah, you do."

I rolled my eyes again, and it made my vision become a little jumbled. I needed to sit down. I sat on the motel couch and felt my elbow bandage tug. Thank God I had worn long sleeves or Dean would have seen the obvious sign of donating blood.

After wolfing down his burger, Dean walked towards me and nudged my foot. "Come on, let's go see Sammy. I'm dyin' to see that kid."

 _Moving? Farther than to the bed? Standing made me want to keel over._ "Uh, no thanks."

Dean scrunched up his eyebrows. "Why not?"

"I see my twin every freaking day, Dean." I fumbled for a lie. "You can; you can go be his sibling today."

He gave me a weird look. _God, I was feeling not so good._ It must've shown because then he asked, "You feeling OK?"

I nodded, even though the movement made the edges of my vision become unnaturally brighter. "Um, I think I just need to eat something."

"Well, I'll pick you up something to eat on our way to Sammy," Dean announced. "Let's move, kid." He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. I winced as the bruised, compressed cut on my elbow stretched.

"Dean, I really…" I tried to fight my way out of this, but vision got progressively whiter. _God, I feel like I'm going to be sick._

"Katie?" Dean asked with worry.

I took a step back to head to the bathroom, but I guess I only made it that far before I collapsed.

"Katie?!" Dean shouted distantly. I could kind of see him hovering over me, but it was all so bright. "Hey, Katie! Can you hear me?"

I lazily blinked my eyes open, and my stomach lurched. "Get me the trashcan."

Dean hurried to bring it to me, and helped into a sitting position just in time for me vomit my half a peanut butter sandwich from lunch.

Adrenaline from vomiting made me more awake, and I blinked the rest of the white away. My back and face felt cold and hot and covered in sweat. And my mouth was full of a hideous taste. _Ew, partially-digested peanut butter was disgusting._

Dean was still holding me up. "Do you need to throw up again?"

I shook my head.

Dean pushed the trashcan back and lifted me up into a bed.

"I'm OK now," I protested. "I think I just need to eat something." In fact, that doctor had told me that I needed to eat something before and after giving blood. But I also sucked at listening to what adults were telling me to do.

"Is this the flu?" Dean asked while he pushed back the hair that was sticking to my sweaty, gross forehead.

Well, I couldn't exactly tell him that I'd been selling my blood twice a week. He wouldn't like that. And I couldn't exactly tell him that I was selling it to some human-loving, vampire doctors. He would go ballistic.

"I, I think I just have low blood sugar," I said.

"Low blood sugar?" he repeated in disbelief.

I nodded. If I was going to get anything out of this whole lie, I might as well try to make sugar a necessary part of my diet.

Dean rubbed his face like he always did. "When—God. Is this a new thing?"

"Uh, I guess," I said. If he asked Dad or Sammy about it, they wouldn't know. So it had to be new.

"What do you… What do you need?" Dean asked me anxiously.

"Food," I said. "And probably some sugar."

Dean nodded and then paced. "Will you be OK if I run and get you something? Or should I have you come with me? God, I shouldn't have eaten that—"

"I'll wait here," I said. I was feeling more tired as the adrenaline wore off.

"I'll be right back," he vowed and looked at me seriously. "Don't move."

* * *

He brought me back a cheeseburger in no time, and I scarfed it down. I felt better after that and easily acted like myself. Sammy came home a couple of hours later, and he knew nothing about my low blood sugar when Dean asked. When Dad called in to say that he had actually already left for the two-week-long hunt, Dean went to ask him about my low blood sugar until I begged him not to. He reluctantly gave in, and I hugged him in thanks.

Dean picked me up from school the next day, and I happily got into the car. Usually, I had to walk back to the motel—which is why I was able to sneak off for an hour after school twice a week to get paid for my blood. But I couldn't give blood two days in a row—something about replenishing blood.

"Sammy's staying at the library," I announced and got buckled.

"How was school?" Dean asked as he pulled out of the school lot and onto the main road.

"Good." I smiled.

Dean raised his eyebrows in surprise. " _Good? Not just fine?_ My word, do you actually like your school, Katie?"

I stuck my tongue out at him. "It's possible to like more crap than chicks and whiskey, Dean." I had made friends at this school, and they were popular. I was using my money to buy new clothes and cool stuff, so they liked me right away. I just kept their friendship with my winning personality—they weren't entirely superficial.

"How would I know what whiskey tastes like?" Dean asked nervously.

I rolled my eyes. "I've seen you drink it before. And I know you're seventeen, and the legal age is twenty-one. When I turn seventeen, I'm going to—"

"Anyways, why're you wearing long sleeves?" Dean tried to change the subject. "It's like a hundred degrees outside."

That took me by surprise. I blinked down at my olive green, long-sleeved shirt. Well, I was wearing it because my elbow had needle marks and bruises. But I wasn't gonna tell Dean that. "I thought it looked cute."

Dean looked over at me. " _Cute?_ "

"Yeah."

"Wow. I don't think I've ever heard you use that word without sarcasm," Dean noted.

"Whatever." I shrugged him off when we pulled up to the motel. "Oh, and I don't need a ride home tomorrow."

"Why not?" Dean looked over the top of the car at me.

I shrugged. "I've got a big test on Friday. I'm gonna study in the library."

He gave me a disbelieving look. "You? _Study?_ "

I gave him a sheepish grin and headed for our room.

"Hey, let's train for a bit," Dean announced when we walked in.

 _Crap._ If I trained, I'd have to change out of this long-sleeved shirt because it was a billion degrees outside. And if Dean saw my elbows, he'd want to know what happened.

"No, thanks," I said and flopped onto the bed.

"What? Did you already do your training for today?" Dean crossed his arms and looked down at me.

"Yeah, it's called _PE_." I rolled over on the bed and grumbled, "You do yours; I'm tired."

Dean sighed and sat on the corner of the bed. "Did you feel faint or sick today?"

 _What? Oh, the low blood sugar thing from yesterday. Right._ "No…"

"I was reading about low blood sugar in the library today," Dean admitted. "They said it's common for blah blah blah." He started spewing so many health facts that I had no idea what he was saying anymore. A whole lot of love and guilt grew in my chest because my school-hating brother had just volunteered his free day to read boring medical stuff about my nonexistent condition.

"Oh," I said when I realized he'd stopped talking. "That… makes sense."

"So, just let me know if you start feeling like that, alright?" His voice had a whole lot of gruff concern.

"Yeah, OK," I said as he stared at me with worry. _Crap. There's no way I'm going to be able to pull off selling my blood when I have Dean smothering me with concern. Maybe I could just go tomorrow and have it be the last time._

* * *

The next day, I went to the discrete medical building after school. I was hooked up to a needle and was pumping the blood out of my arm and into a container. The vampire doctor checked over the lines and nodded to himself.

"How're you doing today?" he asked me.

I nodded. "Fine. But, I think this is going to have to be my last day."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Why is that?"

"My brother wouldn't approve of this," I admitted with a grimace. "And he just got back in town for good, so…"

The doctor pursed his lips and nodded. He adjusted the container and then turned to me with a smile. "Let me know if you start feeling sick, Katelyn."

I nodded and kept pumping my hand.

After thirty minutes, the doctor came back and switched out the blood-filled container with a new one.

"I'm doing another?"

The doctor nodded and marked the bottle. "You can definitely handle it. We'll give you an extra-strong blood-replenisher once you've finished." Usually, they handed me one of those before I left here. But I guessed that because it was my last time and all, I could give a little more.

Twenty minutes later, I was feeling really sick and faint. "Doctor, I don't feel very good…" I turned to look at him, and my vision flooded with white.

He came over and picked up another full bottle of blood. He plucked it off the tube and reattached the tube to a new, empty bottle.

 _Oh crap._

The doctor smiled at me. "That's to be expected, dear. Don't worry; it's perfectly fine to fall asleep right about now. Just give in." He walked away.

 _Oh damn._ If I lived through this, Dean was going to kill me. Dad was going to slaughter me. I was so stupid. _Why did I ever do this?_

I tried to raise my free arm to pull out the needle, but I couldn't make my muscles work right; my hand just kept flopping and fumbling.

Death was coming for me, and tears were streaming down my cheeks. In a quiet prayer, I started repeating my family members' names for help.

I was losing consciousness now, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't escape, but I didn't want to give into death. With a last prayer to whoever was listening, I begged for help.

I distantly heard some fighting. Some metal on metal. Some yelling and some hissing. In the end, I heard my name.

"Katie?! KATIE! Oh, God! KATE!"

I think I felt something move at my elbow, but everything was pretty numb at that point.

"Hey, just hold on, alright? I'm gonna get you out of here. You're going to be OK, I promise. Katie? _Katie!_ "

* * *

Something was pinching my hand, and something was tickling my nose. I pulled up my hand to swat at the thing on my face, and I felt a tube there.

 _What's going on?_

"Morning."

I blinked my eyes open to see Dean standing at the foot of my bed with his arms crossed. He might've looked calm, but I knew he had anger brewing underneath it all.

I swallowed my dry throat and croaked, "Hi…"

He didn't say anything, just brought me over a small cup of water. I carefully took a sip.

I looked around the room and didn't see my father or Sammy. "Where's… uh… everyone else?" I stared at my cup. God, I did not want to face Dad's wrath after he found out what I was doing right under his nose.

"I sent Sam home to get some sleep last night," Dean replied emotionlessly. "He has school today. Where you should be instead of this godforsaken—" He stopped his sentence with an annoyed sigh.

I bit my lip and kept my eyes down. "How'd you find me?" _And how much do you know?_

"Well, I was worried about my little sister's _low blood sugar,_ " he said scathingly. "So I decided to stop by the school library to check on Sam and bring you a granola bar. Imagine my surprise when I show up and can't find a Kate Winchester to save my goddamn life."

He glared at me, but I kept quiet and waited until he continued. "So, I asked some of your bitchy little friends where the hell you had gone, and they pointed in the direction that you sometimes walked home. I busted into every freaking building until I found you in a _fucking vampire den!_ "

I flinched at the end, but I really didn't know what to say. "Dean, I—"

"Before you try to weasel your way out of this one," he cut me off, "I know. The doctors found all the damn needle marks and bruises on your elbows, Katelyn. How long had you been letting those bastards leach off of you, huh? And why the hell did you?! And why the hell didn't you tell Dad?! _Or me?!_ "

I looked around the room like it could give me the right response for this mess. "I… I thought it was safe. They offered me money, and I didn't think it would be that big of a deal—"

"So you prostituted your blood for _vampires_?" I glanced up to see Dean glaring at me like the idiot I was. "What the hell were you thinking, Kate?!"

"I, I wasn't," I admitted. It was all so stupid now. _Why did I let myself do that? Were temporary friends and cool clothes worth almost dying?_

Dean scoffed. "Yeah, well, you'll have plenty of time to think about this crap when you're working your ass off in chores."

 _Yeah, that was fair._ "How long?"

Dean narrowed his eyes down at me. " _Months,_ Katie."

I grimaced. _I really messed up._ "I'm sorry, Dean. I won't do anything like this ever again."

He barked a short laugh. "If you even _think_ of doing something this stupid again, Katelyn, I will bust your ass so hard that you will think of these chores as fond memories."

I looked down meekly.

Dean let out a breath through his nose and rubbed his face. "Come on. We're gonna bust you out of this place before someone starts fishing around for insurance."

I nodded and obediently followed his lead at getting out of the drips and wires. He turned around while I changed into my street clothes, and then I followed him out to the car.

As I buckled myself into the passenger's seat, I asked The Question: "What did Dad say?" I cringed as I waited for the answer.

To my surprise, Dean gruffly said, "He doesn't know."

I blinked and looked at my older brother like the miracle he was. "You didn't tell him?"

Dean gave me a hard side-eye. "Do I need to?"

I frantically shook my head and looked back at the road. "Thank you."

"Yeah, don't go thanking me yet; you're still gonna be working your ass off. I just don't think Dad's anger is gonna be any help to my frustration or your guilt."

I nodded. _God, bless Dean for being merciful in my hour of need._

Dean pulled into the school parking lot and got Sam out of school early.

"Dean, I have a math test next period," Sam complained as he hopped in the back.

"Yeah, well, you two are switching schools, so I don't think it's really going to matter," Dean said as he drove us back to the motel.

I frowned as I realized I wouldn't be able to say goodbye to all of the friends I had made here. They might have been a little superficial, but they were still my friends.

"Dean, why can't I—?!" Dean shut off Sammy's protest with a glare to the backseat.

Sam turned his own glare on me. "Kate, why were you so stupid? You honestly thought dealing with vampires was gonna work out well?"

"Stuff it," I grumbled. I knew it was dumb; I didn't need it shoved in my face, too.

"Now, _I_ have to switch schools." Sam looked out the window with a scowl. "You're selfish. Not just because of the school thing, but because you thought that I didn't deserve to know what you were doing. If you really wanted money, I could've helped you catfish. But you didn't think I cared enough about you to know. And, you know what—"

"Sammy, that's enough," Dean said with that parental tone of his.

With a grumble, Sam shut up. We were all quiet until we pulled up to the motel.

"Sam, go pack your stuff," Dean said. "We'll be up in a sec." _Oh no._

With a slam to the car door, Sam obeyed. I was left alone with my only parental figure. My only parental figure that was still very, very angry at me. I braced myself.

"Katie, are you OK?"

I looked up in surprise. Dean was having one of those rare times that his eyes were totally open and caring. I honestly didn't know what to think or say; I thought he still hated me. "Um… yeah…"

"I know that vampire douche might've freaked you out for the next little while," Dean said kindly. "I just… You're not alone, OK?"

I nodded mutely. _What was I supposed to say to that?_

"And… if you ever need anything, you come to me, alright? Money, advice, burying a damn body—whatever the hell it is, I'll always take care of you. I promise." He looked at me to make sure I got the message.

I nodded again, and he nodded too. "Good. Now let's go deal with moody Samantha, and then you can spend the car ride thinking about some lie we can tell Dad about why you guys needed to change schools. And make it good; don't spew any of that not-belonging crap. Dad'll never buy it." I nodded and followed Dean's lead to get out of the car.

As we walked up to the motel room, Dean put his arm on my shoulder and steered me inside.

 **To any followers of the _Everybody's Changing_ & _Atonement_ series- I made good first chapter and plot-line progress on the third installment today, and I am PUMPED to start writing. :)**


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